better to install win on a small partition and files on big one?

[Benzie500E]

Would it be better to say, split a 20gb hard drive in to 2 partitions:

2gb
18gb

put only the windows install on the 2gb
and only downloaded files, games, and data on the 18gb?

would that make windows run smoother?

 

[linney]

2GB might be a bit too small for XP as it likes to grow a bit with age.

See what is suggested here.

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=...q="partition+size+for+xp"+windows&sa=N&tab=wg

 

[dakota81]

There's no reason I can think of for games or other software to run faster if the harddrive is partitioned.

However, it is a very good idea to do exactly what you are doing, for the simple fact of making a re-install of WinXP a lot easier, if you ever need to do so. In such case, all you'd need to do is wipe the partition & reinstall; instead of moving around a lot of needed data before wiping the partition.

 

[BernardStewart]

The solution I have developed seems to provide a more stable and secure system.
I use Partition Magic to split the disks up as follows.
1: for windows
2: for the swap file (you have to force this) this ensures the swap file does not get fragmented or interfere with the other files.
3: for other programmes
4: for office suite
5 for data
this makes reformatting, management, reinstalls and security much better

 

[Jontmke]

All good suggestion. With a smaller Windows partition you could even back it up to CD if you wanted to bother. I would just use ghost or drive image though, much easier and less time consuming.

Jon

There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge. (Bertrand Russell)

 

[AP81]

BernardStewart has given you the best answer.

That is also similar to the way I also parition my system.

There is no need to install windows to one parition. It makes it hard to back up and doesn't use the space effectively.

I have the following:

partition1: Windows
partition2: Windows Swap
partition3: Windows Temp and Internet Temporary files
partition4: Shared (for windows and linux)
partition5: Backup
partition6: a 700MB parition to quickly copy CD's to
The other 7 are use for linux.

I have done this way for a number of reasons:

1. performance
2. easier to maintain
3. reduces fragmentation to windows drive
4. I am a linux user and the linux paritioning system is superior to that of windows.

I then have a batch file on startup that cleans my temp and Temporary Internet files. I have also made another batch file to backup my data to my backup partition.

Just a suggestion.